Thousands of captured Ethiopian government soldiers were marched through Mekelle to prison on Friday, as crowds jeered and applauded. Tigray fighters swiftly defeated the government this week, in a civil war that has displaced nearly two million people in the region.
💭 “Their aim is to leave no Tigrayan,” she said. “I hope there will be a Tigrayfor my children to go home to.”
💭 “Amhara Fano Militias at Humera told me, ‘Go home, you’re Tigrayan,’” she said. “We Tigrayans are Ethiopian. Why do they treat us as non-Ethiopian?”
💭 “Amhara Fano Militias accidentally killed an ethnic Oromo in a Tigrayan household,” she said. “When they realized their ‘mistake,’ they came and buried him.”
A huge fire has broken out underneath Elephant and Castle station leading to explosions and evacuations.
Fifteen engines and 100 firefighters were sent to the south east London station, where the fire had started in garages in the arches of the railway station.
Addis Ababa – Tigrayan Rebel fighters consolidate their control of Addis Ababa after defeating Mengistu Haliemargovernment troops, 28 May 1991
Thirty years ago, I saw the rebels take Addis Ababa
I was the only foreign correspondent there, and it was the best day of my life
The evening before the assault on Addis Ababa, my guide Girmay and I ventured into a complex stuffed with bombs, bullets and missiles that must have been boobytrapped. A few minutes into taking photos, I heard detonations, and a bunker on the hill above us exploded. We dashed away as the rumbles and bangs behind us gathered in fury and then the earth burst in an eruption of fire, sending a mushroom cloud into the sky. As we ran, rockets and shells rained down on all sides, shrapnel and earth bursting in plumes. We took cover in a dry riverbed and I worked my way through a packet of cigarettes while the ground shook under the relentless explosions until dusk, when we raced madly across plowed fields until we reached safety.
I’m thinking about this now because it’s 30 years to the day since it happened. Girmay was a young Tigrayan rebel officer and I was a foreign correspondent. That night, together with our posse of guerrilla bodyguards, we joined a column of Russian-made rebel tanks thundering towards Addis, entering the city as dawn broke with gunfire and booms of heavy guns. When the column got held up in a traffic jam of blasting tanks I jumped down off our T-54 and asked a shopkeeper if I could use her phone. Finally, I was able to get a call through to my bureau chief, Jonathan Clayton, who was barricaded behind his Hilton hotel room door in town, but ready to take down reams of color copy.
Rolling into the city center with the din of battle all around, we glimpsed a crowd pulling down a giant statue of Lenin. Then our tank roared up to the palace, caterpillar tracks smashing down the iron gates, and everybody cheering with sheer Adrenalin and delight.
Girmay and I jumped down from the tank in clouds of diesel smoke, followed by our teenage bodyguards. Fighting in the palace grounds was still going on as we made our way past a cage inhabited by a starving lion and the latrines down which, we later discovered, the emaciated corpse of Emperor Haile Selassie had been stuffed during the communist revolution 16 years before. At last we found the dictator Mengistu’s inner sanctum. On the walls were pictures of Lenin and snaps of Mengistu and Fidel Castro together, grinning. There was a conference table and red leather chairs embossed with gold hammers and sickles. On the desk, a Lenin paperweight, a lighter inscribed by North Korea’s Kim Il-sung and Bob Marley’s Exodus LP. In the drawers, various drugs, condoms and the supreme leader’s business cards.
Later, I made my way to the Hilton. In the hotel bathroom, I saw myself in the mirror for the first time in weeks, and a sunken- cheeked, dirty, hair-covered face with staring eyes and parched lips looked back at me. On the road to Addis I had drafted my piece a thousand times in my head and now I had it in my grasp, as the only foreign correspondent to have accompanied a 100,000-strong guerrilla army during the capture of a city, I was tongue-tied, unable to write a word. Somehow I cranked it out and after that, Girmay and I went to buy half a cow’s carcass and fed it to that neglected and starving palace lion.
It was the best day of my life. I had traveled a thousand miles and seen two months of fighting in the deserts and stunning mountain landscapes of northern Ethiopia. The London Evening Standard splashed our story on the front page that night: ‘I SEE THE REBELS TAKE ADDIS ABABA — Reuters man rides in with tank convoy’.
‘Yeees, Dad, we’ve heard that story before,’ say my children when I go over it yet again. I am grateful to have been there to witness such events, even though after too many years of it one comes unstuck for a time. And I’m left for ever with my thoughts of Girmay, whose lovely country is now being destroyed by yet another conflict. And I remember my news colleagues, alive and dead. Just in our one Nairobi Reuters team over the years, we lost John, Dan, Hos, Anthony, Mo, Brian, Shafi and Victor. Then a few weeks ago Francis Gaitho, the engineer who used to make all our technology work so that we could flatten the opposition with scoops during the battle for Addis, went too. It had been too long since we had our last Tusker beer in Nairobi.
My Note: Today, TDF should not repeat the same mistake they did back then. Enough is enough! Everything should be made in favor of Axumites – that good-for-nothing ‘Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ ideological game is over. Take care of your people first – protect Tigrayan Ethiopians first. Now, Tigrayans should not allow the war criminal Abiy Ahmed Ali to escape like Mengistu. Until Tigrayans march towards Addis Ababa to overthrow the fascist Oromo regime of cruel Abiy Ahmed Ali, arrest his gangs who are involved in the #TigrayGenocide – there will be neither victory nor celebration. The spiritual, psychological and societal injuries and pains Tigrayans had to endure is immense! Tha Oromos and Amharas will repay the proceeds of their notorious and unforgettable Crimes.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on June 25, 2021
Mission-Oriented Child Serial Killers are considered as ordinary persons, and they kill a particular group of people. They may focus on killing people from a specific religion, social class, or race. Their goal is to eliminate the group or exterminate as many of its members as possible.
Child serial killers and adult serial killers exhibit similar characteristics. The fear of death, which normal persons have is absent in serial killers. They enjoy the act of killing, which gives them emotional gratification. They are attracted to kill, as they gain pleasure from the action. In their early childhood, they exhibit one or all the behaviors of the MacDonald triad. Thepsychological activities are analyzed from the drive of the killer to the phases of execution.
Those are all the observable characteristics of the person Abiy Ahmed Ali – The anti-Tigrayan, anti-Ethiopia, anti-Orthodox-Christian, anti-Christ serial murderer. He is realizing his dreams of eliminating non Oromos so that he could wage his oromization, islamization and protestantization Jihad against Orthodox Christian Ethiopia – whose cradle is Tigray. He even appointed a Muslim female Jihadist as minister of ‘PEACE’ – to mock Orthodox Christians of Ethiopia – to underestimate or undermine the power of The True Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel of Forgiveness. There will be severe penalties for these wicked individuals and their colleagues.
[Revelation 20:9-10]
They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever
[Mark 9:42]
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.„
💭 He Promised Peace. Then He Tore His Country Apart
By Tsedale Lemma
Birhan Girmay, healthcare beneficiary
👉 Ms. Lemma is the founder of Addis Standard, an independent monthly magazine based in Ethiopia. She writes regularly about the country’s politics and society.
Ahead of Ethiopia’s general election on Monday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been laying out his grand ambitions for the country. He wants it to be “comfortable for all Ethiopians,” he recently told a TV interviewer, “where every Ethiopian moves around relaxed, works and prospers.” The country, he said, should be one whose “sovereignty is respected and feared, and whose territorial integrity is preserved.”
He’s going about it in a horrifying way. For eight months, Mr. Abiy’s government has been waging brutal war on one of its regions, Tigray, killing thousands of people, displacing over two million and creating a disastrous famine. Comfort, relaxation, work and prosperity could not be farther away. Far from respect, the act has brought international outcry. And as for territorial integrity, the war effort has relied on Eritrean soldiers, whom Isaias Afwerki, the country’s leader, refuses to withdraw.
But the war in Tigray, though exceptional in its brutality, is not an isolated case. Since he came to power on a wave of enthusiasm in 2018, Mr. Abiy has consistently demonstrated his tendency to ruthlessly centralize power. Political opponents, set against the creation of a new ruling party in Mr. Abiy’s image, have been sidelined, even jailed. Many have been shocked by this behavior — after all, Mr. Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 — but in fact, he’s following a coherent philosophy and strategy. Elaborately explained in his book “Medemer,” a word coined by the prime minister to mean togetherness, the approach seeks unity among the people of Ethiopia and cohesion in its state.
And it’s tearing the country apart.
For the disasters he’s unleashed, look no further than Tigray. Since Mr. Abiy announced the assault in November as a “law enforcement” mission, it has metastasized into all-out war. Numerous corroborated reports have revealed the horrific scale of violence, including massacres, endemic sexual violence and a famine that threatens the lives of more than 350,000 Tigrayans. While the world has yet to learn the real death toll, the region, with a population of more than six million, has been decimated. And there is no end in sight.
The war, which has become a gruesome byword for ethnic cleansing, is Mr. Abiy’s punishment for Tigray’s refusal to accept his authority. (The precursor to the assault was the region’s decision, in defiance of the government, to hold an election in September.) But Tigray is not alone in paying the price for challenging Mr. Abiy’s centralizing moves. In Oromia, where he’s from, Mr. Abiy has overseen a brutal crackdown — responsible, in 2019 alone, for over 10,000 arrests and a number of extrajudicial executions — in the name of countering a rebellion led by the Oromo Liberation Army, an armed opposition group.
After the assassination of a popular Oromo musician, Hachalu Hundessa, in June of last year, repression became yet more violent. In protests against the killing, whose perpetrators are still unknown, at least 123 people were killed, including 76 by security forces. In the aftermath, numerous opposition politicians — including Mr. Abiy’s former ally, Jawar Mohammed — were jailed. In response, the two main opposition parties withdrew from Monday’s election, leaving Mr. Abiy’s party to run the country’s largest region all but uncontested.
Against this baleful backdrop, the election — which is expected to coronate Mr. Abiy and his party, cementing his power — is distinctly underwhelming. Not only is Tigray completely excluded, but logistical difficulties have also hampered the voting process. After problems with security, voter registration, defective ballots and legal challenges, the election has been postponed to September in two other regions as well as in dozens of constituencies. And about half a million internally displaced Ethiopians are unlikely to be able to vote.
It’s a far cry from the free and fair election Mr. Abiy promised when he became leader three years ago: The much-vaunted transition to democracy is not very evident. Far from supplying legitimacy to the government and stability to the country, the election — boycotted by opposition parties and undertaken amid a war — is likely to pull Ethiopia further apart, to calamitous effect.
But that doesn’t seem to bother Mr. Abiy. Ignoring international entreaties to end the war in Tigray and agree to an inclusive political settlement, he is instead determinedly preparing to govern an Ethiopia neither respected nor whole. His legacy, at least, is secure. Mr. Abiy will forever be the Nobel Peace laureate who refused to give peace a chance.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on June 25, 2021
Ethiopia’s military today said it was responsible for a deadly airstrike on a busy marketplace in the country’s Tigray region. Health workers said the attack killed at least 64 people, including children, but the military insisted only combatants were targeted.
A doctor who managed to reach the market in Togoga village after Ethiopian soldiers blocked medical teams from responding to Wednesday’s attack escribed a “horrible” scene of badly wounded people lying on the ground, crying in pain with no medical care.
“It was very traumatising,” he told The Associated Press. “I think most of the patients, they died because we were late there, because care wasn’t available.”
Most of the patients taken to regional hospitals weren’t critical, he said: “The critical patients were already dead.” Like others, he spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The doctor who reached the scene said “most of the patients we found were mothers, children and elderly fathers. There were few young men”.
The airstrike wounded more than 100 people, half of them seriously, a regional health official said. Health workers said Ethiopian forces blocked medical teams from responding and shot at a Red Cross ambulance trying to reach the scene.
Bodies were still being pulled from the rubble and dozens of survivors were still arriving at regional hospitals with shrapnel and blunt trauma wounds two days after the airstrike, said a doctor in the regional capital, Mekele. The International Committee of the Red Cross called the transport of seriously injured to Mekele “a matter of life and death”.
Even today, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that the UN still hasn’t been able to reach the scene.
“Between the fighting and different groups on the ground we need clearance to go and we’ve just not been able to get it,” he said.
The airstrike, one of the worst massacres of the war, came amid some of the fiercest fighting in Tigray since the conflict began in November as Ethiopian forces, supported by neighboring Eritrea, pursue Tigray’s former leaders.
The United States and the European Union have condemned the airstrike in Togoga that left children, including a 1-year-old baby, screaming in pain.
A “reprehensible act,” the US State Department said. “Denying victims urgently needed medical care is heinous and absolutely unacceptable. We urge the Ethiopian authorities to ensure full and unhindered medical access to the victims immediately. We also call for an urgent and independent investigation.”
The US also called for an immediate cease-fire in Tigray, where thousands of civilians have been killed and 350,000 people are now facing one of the world’s worst famines in years.
“At least 33,000 children in inaccessible parts of Tigray are severely malnourished and face imminent death without immediate help,” the latest UN humanitarian update said yesterday.
The real death toll from the airstrike could be even higher because some people likely took the dead home to their nearby villages and buried them without telling regional officials, Hailu said.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on June 25, 2021
❖ Surfside, Florida:
Nearly 100 people are unaccounted for after a 12-story building in Surfside, Florida partially collapsed overnight. Rescuers are urgently combing through the rubble amid concerns the rest of the building may come down too.
❖ Lemoore, California:
1.5 million gallon water tank explodes.
The City of Lemoore has declared a State of Emergency following the deadly water tank explosion Monday afternoon.
The rupture of a 1.5-million-gallon city water tank has left the site out of operation.
City officials released new footage Tuesday night that captured the moment the tank exploded, hurting a city employee and killing a contactor.
❖ Togoga, Tigray
#TogogaMassacre | More Than 80 Civilians Killed in an Air Attack on a Busy Market in Tigray
Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in an air attack on a busy market in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
Health workers in the village of Togoga told The Associated Press news agency that more than 80 civilians were killed.
They also alleged that soldiers blocked medical teams from travelling to reach the scene.
❖ Gijet, Tigray:
TDF Fighters Down Ethiopia’s Military Plane: ✈️’The Lockheed C-130 Hercules.’ Lockheed Martin established headquarters of the Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) in Titusville, Florida.
🇺🇸 America, please get rid of the evil PM of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed Ali 😈 who is installed by your Pentecostal Jihadists. Neither he nor Lucifer’s Morning Star Satan’s Pentecostal replacement theology 😈 belong to Ethiopia! Your Manchurian Candidate sent his kids to Texas for safety, while he continues waging a genocide against ancient Orthodox Christians, massacring even infants, and committing mass atrocity crimes in Tigray, Ethiopia. The Almighty God Egziabher is watching and registering everything!
✞✞✞[Micah 2:1]✞✞✞
Woe to those who scheme iniquity,Who work out evil on their beds!When morning comes, they do it,For it is in the power of their hands.
✞✞✞[Proverbs 6:16-19]✞✞✞
There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Addis Ethiopia Weblog 